Brake Bleeding & Issues

Parts:

Sealey VS402 vacuum Tester – £30

2 litres of Dot 4 synthetic Brake fluid – 4 x £5

Sealey 9/32 brake nipple spanner – £3.99

Background:

I have been trying to get round to this job for a couple of weeks now and eventually managed to grab some time and prepare for the task. This will be the first time the car has had brake fluid in it for thirteen years now. I took the master cylinder of and decided to check the inside of the chamber. What I found was a little surface rust and a little pitting. So, I took the whole thing apart and cleaned it up and made it look like new. I was a little worried about the bore hole but thought I would see if it was OK. What I found inside was the following parts.

Parts as they came out

complete strip down

The brakes should be bleed from the furthest away to the nearest last: Right rear, left rear, right front & finally drivers side left front.

Process:

I reassembled and bolted the Master Cylinder back on. I prepared the rear drum at the right rear. I assembled the Sealey tool and placed the ring spanner in place. I poured a reservoir full into the the MC (saves me typing out Master Cylinder all the time). I gently pressed the pedal a few times and as expected the pedal went to the floor. There was a little splashing upwards so i went to check all was well. It was no leaks so far. I went to the back and started to press the levers to create a vacuum. The vacuum was holding steady and I went to the front to check. All was OK. Then I pressed the pedal a few times. Checking this time was now different there was a tiny drip under the MC. I felt around and it was definitely a leak. The leak had now started into a constant drip. After checking all the bolts were done up it dawned on me that could be a problem. I ran back to check the check the manuals in the man cave. I compared the photo with the manual. Yep bits missing. Not happy now I decided to cut my loses and empty the reservoir. I sued an old 5ml syringe that I have had for years for just this reason. I emptied the fluid into the bowl near me. dismantle of the MC was now going to be messy and care was taken to keep the fluid of the paintwork. A phone call to Adam at Mustang Maniac confirmed my worst fears. The MC was sounding like it was shot to bits with the pitting. When you rub your finger inside you can feel it has a few pits in it at the bottom where the rust was. My pressing of the pedal has obviously allowed the fluid past the seal and leak out.

Sealey VS402

Brake bleeder connected to the rear wheel

spanner on the bleed nipple.

The Sealey tool did pump up to vacuum and I expect if I hadn’t had the issues it would have worked. I can’t answer that right now as the process was not completed.